Chapter 6
The officer moved closer to Arthur.
Not with handcuffs.
Not with an arrest.
Just a firmer presence.
That was enough to change Arthur’s breathing.
“This is a family matter,” Arthur snapped.
Charles looked at him.
“You made it public when you abandoned three children at their mother’s grave.”
Arthur’s eyes flicked toward the mourners.
Two hundred witnesses.
That number mattered.
For the first time, Arthur seemed to remember he was not in his kitchen, his car, or a closed attorney’s office.
He was surrounded by people who knew Rose.
Teachers.
Neighbors.
Church friends.
Charles’s old colleagues.
Parents from the girls’ school.
People who had brought casseroles, flowers, prayers, and now watched a widower lunge for an envelope his dead wife told her child to hide.
Arthur tried to laugh.
“She was unstable near the end.”
Lucy stiffened.
Charles held up one hand without turning.
Stay behind me.
Arthur continued, louder.
“Rose was confused. She wrote things down that made no sense.”
Charles’s eyes narrowed.
“You know what’s in the notebook?”
Arthur’s mouth closed.
Too late.
The silence exposed him again.
Rachel lifted her tear-streaked face from Charles’s coat and stared at her father like she no longer recognized him.
April whispered, “Mommy wasn’t confused.”
Arthur looked away from his youngest daughter.
That single refusal hurt worse than anything he had said.
Charles lowered his voice.
“No one opens this here.”
Arthur’s face tightened.
“Then give it to me.”
May you like
“No.”
Read the full story 👉 Arthur tried to discredit Rose, but he revealed he already knew the notebook was dangerous to him.
